THE EMIR GOUR

Formerly lost in a small narrow streets, the Gour Emir (or tomb of the sovereign), the mausoleum of Timur, is now facing the rue du Registan. A large esplanade was released, recreating the original plan and the "royal lane" paved with white slabs which, in the fourteenth century, connected the Gour Emir to the mausoleum of Sheik Burhanaddin, says Rukhobod. The disintegration of the USSR brought the young republic of Uzbekistan into a new era, but deprived it of its ideals and of its official «hero», Lenin, a hero who was culturally and historically alien but omnipresent. This ideological vacuum allowed the «renaissance» of Timur, whose existence had been carefully disguised in shadow for seventy years. An historic, cultural and political recognition that gives this victorious, bloodthirsty warrior the very first place in the pantheon of the new Uzbekistan. His mausoleum has thus become one of the top spots in the country, a symbol of the greatness and power of the Uzbek nation. In the image of another great conqueror, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane wanted to be soberly buried: " Just a stone and my name over ", he said, and his tomb was prepared in a crypt in his hometown of Shahrisabz. But history decided otherwise. In 1401, Muhamad Sultan, a favourite grandson of Timur and her designated successor, built a four-minarets architectural ensemble composed of an inner courtyard bordered by four iwan, which gave a madrasas to the east and a khanaka to the west. Madrasas was devoted to the education of the sons of noble families destined to work in the administration, a timurid version of the ENA. In the khanaka, residence of the dervishes, there was also a dome mosque. Today, only the traces of the foundations testify to these constructions, but one can admire the portal still richly decorated on which is inscribed in Persian: " Built by the little slave Mohamed, son of Mahmoud, Isfahan, and facing him, part of the wall of the iwan closing the inner courtyard on the south side and behind which the Gour Emir stands. When, in 1403, Muhamad Sultan, still young, died in a campaign in Persia, Timur made this mausoleum, the most beautiful one, for the one in whom he had seen his successor. When the first dome was completed, Timur found him too small, destroyed it and ordered the construction of a new dome, larger, which was completed in less than two weeks. Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo tells how the workers worked day and night, and described Tamerlane, sick and litière, who came in person twice monitoring the work. In February 1405, Timur died in turn and his body, fragrant musk and camphor, was temporarily and secretly buried in the khanaka beside her grandson. It was only four years later, when the succession struggles were settled, that the remains of the royal people joined their present residence in the crypt crypt. On that occasion, the spiritual master of Timur, Sheikh Mir-Said-Bereke, was buried. Timur is resting on his feet as he wished. Legend claims that, during the first few years, following his burial, the sovereign was heard every night from his royal tomb, until all the scientists, astronomers, architects and artisans, who had been forcibly brought to Samarkand by his conquests, returned home. When all these prisoners were released, the emperor finally found the rest. Subsequently, other Timourids came to join him, including two sons from Timur, Shakhrukh and Miranshakh, as well as his grandson Oulough Begh. He also brought changes to the architectural ensemble. He added a gallery to the mausoleum, and began to build another mausoleum, which only remains ruins, and a crypt that can be seen behind the Gour Emir. It was also Oulough Begh who brought Mongolia back to the bloc block, which covered Timur's tomb, and that caused the burial slabs of a barrier marble barrier to surround. Like all the constructions of Timur, the Gour Emir is grandiose. The volumes, simple, are of imposing size. The outer dome is 32 m high and a 3 m high Sufi inscription surrounds its base: it reads: «Allah is the only God and Mohammed is his prophet». On this drum is a stretched dome, 12,50 m high and 15 m in diameter, fully covered with blue ice bricks that sixty-four ribs interspersed with yellow and blue diamond appear to stretch towards the sky. The interior of the mausoleum is even more sumptuous: first of all, the translucent green of the onyx walls, once fortified with gold and lazurite decorations, higher of the blue and gold coraniques inscriptions which populate the room, finally the cupola that geometric gold decorations on soft blue background make "like the sky", according to the words of the historian Cheref-ad Din. In the centre, seven funerary tiles, including that of Mir-Said-Bereke, the spiritual master of Timur, where a pole is attached to a horse, indicating the tomb of a saint. At his feet, the funeral slab of Timur, in nephritis, is covered with numerous inscriptions listing the ancestors of "the Emir of Iron". This detailed genealogy underscores her kinship with Genghis Khan and goes back to a certain Bouzanjir, son of the virtuous Alavanka and a ray of light. The tombstone is split in its middle: it is, however, Nadir Shah who, during his campaigns in the th century, wanted to prevail in Persia and the crack believing that she had the riches of Timur. The other graves are those of Muhamad Sultan, grandson of Timur, Oulough Begh, son, Shah Rukh and Miranshah, two other sons of Timur. The real graves are in a closed crypt for tourists. If there are not too many people at the time of the visit, it is possible to ask the guardian, with a slight tip, to open the door that leads there. In the crypt, Timur's funeral slab is also broken.

In the courtyard on the right of the entrance, Kok Tash is a stone block about 3 m long and 1,50 m wide on which the throne of Timur rested. The custom wanted it to be on this stone, with magical powers, that the leaders of Bukhara were crowned. " Fallen from heaven, she would not have left a false episode or a khan khan approaching her, "says Eugène Schuyler.

The town of Samarkand would be by underground. One of them would leave from the Gour Emir and drive to Registan. During Ramadan or shortly before Navrouz, a few mullahs go into procession across the city underground. Dressed in white and sandals, they illuminate candles and, of course, refuse to allow tourists to accompany them.